Lesmahagow

On the 1st June 16 79, James Thomson, farmer at Tanhill, fell at Drumclog, and was buried in the churchyard of Stonehouse. His only son, John Thomson, was imprisoned with his wife in the Castle of Blackness, in Linlithgowshire, at that time the principal state prison in Scotland. Thomas Weir at Waterside, on Logan water, was killed at Drumclog, where he fought on horseback. His bridle reins having broken, his horse carried him into the midst of the foe. His body was interred in Lesmahagow churchyard. His son, Gavin, was proclaimed a fugitive and rebel in 1684. Robert Lockhart of Birkhill, and his brother Walter, of Kirkton, in the parish of Carluke, were associated in the rising of Drumclog. Robert had a horse shot under him at Bothwell Bridge. After this encounter it was proposed by some of the defeated Covenanters to engage in devotion, by singing a psalm. Lockhart remonstrated, as the enemy were in close pursuit, and had scarcely time to conceal himself by climbing a tree. His friends were captured. He did not long survive his escape. Worn out by fatigue and privations, he was found dead in a moss, and buried secretly after nightfall in the church of Carluke. His sword and pistols are still preserved by the family. He was forfeited, but the attainder was annulled by the General Act passed in 1690. (Act Parl., ix. 164.)

George and Robert Weir were taken prisoners with George Draffen at Bothwell Bridge, and sentenced to banishment. The vessel was wrecked off the Orkneys, and the Weirs, together with no fewer than one hundred and ninety?eight other passengers perished. Draffen however escaped, and was conveyed to America. George Weir in Cumberhead appears from the Session Records to have been an elder in the Kirk. Marion Weir of Cumberhead was the first to visit the widow of John Brown of Priesthill, after the martyrdom of her husband. Mary Weir was the name of the wife of David Steel of Skellyhill, but it is difficult to state more than the probability that both were members of the same pious family. Isabell Weir, wife of Brown of Priesthill, was from the parish of Sorn, in Ayrshire. John Wilson and John Smith of Lesmahagow were shot in 1683 by Colonel Buchan and the Laird of Lee. The latter of those worthies lies interred in Muirkirk churchyard. In the month of March following, Lieutenant Muriay shot John Brown at Blackwood, and his body was buried under cloud of night in the field where he fell. Joseph Wilson of Lesmahagow, probably a relative of the John Wilson above mentioned, was shot in the summer of 1686 by a party of soldiers at Knockdon hill, near the water of Kyle, in Ayrshire, upon the simple admission on his part that he was returning from Galloway from hearing James Renwick preach in the fields. Thomas Steel of Skellyhill, who appears by the Session Records to have been an elder in the Kirk, was fined £300 for his adherence to the Presbyterian cause. His younger brother, David, who rented the farm of Nether Skellyhill, refused to hear the curate of Lesmahagow, and attended the open?air preaching. He fought at Bothwell Bridge, and so closely was he persecuted after that event, that he durst not pass the night at home, but generally slept in a small turf but on the west side of Mennochhill, on the farm of Cumberhead, near the source of the Nethan. It was about four miles from his own house, and two miles from the lonely residence of John Brown the carrier. In 1686, in the month of December, when he was at home in the bosom of his family, Lieutenant Chrichton came suddenly upon him with a party of horse and foot soldiers. Steel armed himself with a musket, and escaping by a window, ran towards Logan water, distant about one?fourth of a mile, closely pursued by the dragoons, who had discovered his flight. When crossing the stream he fell and wetted his powder, but rising immediately, pursued his flight towards Nethan. Had he reached that place he would probably have been safe amidst its precipitous banks and the morasses to the east; but when at Yondertown the dragoons began firing upon him, and when he had reached Meadow, on the estate of Stockbriggs, he became exhausted. He still managed to keep the foremost of his pursuers at bay by presenting his musket; but Chrichton coming up, called him to surrender, promising quarter and a fair trial at Edinburgh. On these conditions he surrendered, but Chrichton, with the most malignant treachery, carried him back to Skellyhill; and meeting his wife, Mary Weir, who, with her infant in her arms, had been watching his flight with intense anxiety, he caused him to be taken to a field before his own door, and there ordered the dragoons to shoot him. They refused to do so, and rode off towards upper Skelly hill; but the infantry, who were Highlanders, were not so scrupulous, and immediately fired. Crichton and his men then departed, and when some of the neighbours arrived, they found the widow gathering up the martyr's hair and brains, which lay scattered about. She then bound up his head with a napkin, and as she gazed upon his mangled corpse. exclaimed: "The archers have shot at thee, my husband, but they could not reach thy soul; it has escaped like a dove far away, and is at rest." Then clasping her hands, she added, " Lord, give strength to Thy handmaid that will prove she has waited for Thee, even in the way of Thy judgments." The corpse was buried in Lesmahagow churchyard, and near the spot where the martyr fell, a neat obelisk of stone has recently been erected to commemorate the event. The grave?stone in the churchyard has the following inscription: " Here lies the body of David Steel, martyr, who was murdered by Chrichton, for his testimony to the Covenants and work of Reformation, and because he durst not own the authority of the tyrant destroying the same. He was shot at Skellyhill on the 20th December 1686, in the thirty?third year of his age." " Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life."

" David, a shepherd first, and then
Advanced to be king of men,
Had of his graces in this quarter,
This heir, a wanderer, now a martyr;
Who, for his constancy and zeal,
Still to the back did prove true Steel;
Who, for Christ's royal truth and laws,
And for the Covenanted cause
Of Scotland's famous Reformation,
Declining tyrants' usurpation,
By cruel Chrichton murdered lies
Whose blood to heaven for vengeance cries."